The invention relates to a process of preparing a discotic liquid crystalline compound by intramolecular oxidative cyclisation of a diaryl compound in an organic solvent in the presence of a strong acid, characterized in that an oxidative agent comprising a chrom(VI)oxide derivative is used.
The invention further relates to discotic liquid crystalline compounds obtainable by the above process and to the use of said discotic liquid crystalline compounds in liquid crystalline media with columnar phases and in the preparation of liquid crystalline (co)polymers or polymer networks.
The invention also relates to liquid crystalline media and liquid crystalline (co)polymers comprising inventive discotic liquid crystalline compounds, and to the use of inventive discotic liquid crystalline compounds, liquid crystalline media or liquid crystalline polymers for liquid crystal displays, optical elements like polarizers, compensators or colour filters, chemical sensors, charge transport materials, optical storage media, nonlinear optics, decorative pigments, adhesives or synthetic resins with anisotropic mechanical properties.